Hartsville, S.C. - Brevard College's men's soccer team was able to earn its first victory of the year and avenge of a double overtime loss at the same time, defeating Coker College 3-1 on Saturday evening. With the victory BC improves to 1-5 overall, 1-1 in the South Atlantic Conference.
This is the first victory for the royal blue and white over Coker, as the squad had previously been 0-3-1 versus the team. The three goals is the most in a victory since a 4-1 defeat of St. Andrews on Oct. 15, 2011 and is the most in a road victory since Brevard joined the NCAA ranks in 2008.
While the victory was already sealed, the Tornados' final goal of the contest had the most historical importance of the match. In the 88th minute, as Alec Goettl found Ryan McPhillips at the top of the box who then blasted the ball past the goalkeeper for the last goal of the night. With 16 career points, the junior is one point away from having most points in the NCAA era while his seven career goals is tied for the most since the 2008 transition to Division II.
Gabriel Garcia put Brevard on the scoreboard first as his free kick was misplayed by Coker's goalie Kyndle Cobb in the 11th minute. The Cobras responded with a pair of shots in the following 10 minutes with one getting past Heath Turner for the equalizer.
Brevard had an opportunity to retake the lead in the 41st minute after Chris Efenecy got the rebound on his own shot on goal and tried again but the shot went above the goal.
Garcia tried to make magic again with a quality shot in the 51st minute, but his attempt went wide. He got a third attempt shortly after which went wide as well.
In the 74th minute, McPhillips found Garcia streaking towards the goal, feeding him the ball for the game-winning score. With the two scores, Garcia becomes just the sixth person to record multiple goals in a game, joining fellow teammate Andrew Gallowitch as active members of the team to have done it.
Garcia paced the attack with four shots, two on goal. Efenecy was the only other Tornado with multiple shots while they, McPhillips and Goettl all had shots on target.
Turner earned his first win of the season, saving a pair of shots over 90 minutes. Turner is now the first person to achieve double-digit wins while defending Brevard's goal.
With the women also prevailing over Coker, it is the first time since Sept. 7, 2013 that the soccer teams have swept a doubleheader as both sides defeated Erskine 2-1 and the first SAC sweep since Tusculum in 2010.
Brevard is back in action on Wednesday, Sept. 23 when they host Anderson at 4:30 p.m.
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